Finding Dory Review

Can you imagine a movie that is bigger than Frozen or Zootopia?  It doesn’t seem possible, but the opening weekend of Finding Dory, the latest animated movie from Disney-Pixar, grossed more than $136 million!  More than double what Frozen brought in during its opening 3-days; and swimming past Zootopia’s $75 million for the same time period.

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Dory returns with her own movie about finding her family, if she doesn’t forget where she is going. (©Disney-Pixar)

It’s no wonder.  Our favorite memory-challenged royal blue tang fish is back after a 13 year hiatus, bringing us laughs as she makes every attempt to locate her family.

After Mr. Ray’s school kids trigger memories about her past, Dory employs her close friends Marlin and Nemo to help her find her parents somewhere off the coast of California.

In this follow-on to Finding Nemo, we are introduced to baby Dory as her memories of her parents pop in and out.  Along the trip to California, we get to see some old faces such as Crush and Squirt, meet one of her childhood friends, Destiny, and greet a new friend, Hank, a cranky octopus (septopus?) who just wants to get to the Cleveland Aquarium and be left alone.

During this adventure, Marlin and Nemo find themselves separated from Dory and in an impossible situation.  But Marlin’s reflection on “what would Dory do” made him realize how she helped him be Continue Reading →

Pin Trading – the Hilton Head Way!

When people discuss something Disney, the conversations usually center on the parks, whether it be the ones in the U.S., or those located in other countries.  But Disney has other resorts that offer unique experiences, away from the hustle and bustle of a theme park.

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Entry sign at the Hilton Head Island Resort

Due to circumstances, we recently spent 10 days in South Carolina.  While surfing the net looking for sights to see, we were perusing the Disney Pins Blog, one of the many blog sites we follow, and saw a story about Pin Trading at the Disney Hilton Head Island Resort.  So we grabbed our lanyards and trading bag and took the opportunity to head down there to meet with wonderful Cast Members and see if there were any new pins that we could pick up. Continue Reading →

More Disneyland Resort Changes

Several news outlets carried a story this week about the Disneyland Resort adding a new 5-star hotel, with construction beginning in 2018.  This story was unexpected and has us perplexed on several aspects.

The Disneyland Hotel includes decor inspired by Disneyland park in the rooms, a pool-and-slide water play area that evokes the early years of Disneyland, and the new poolside Tangaroa Terrace restaurant and Trader Sam's bar, inspired by classic features found in Adventureland. (Paul Hiffmeyer/Disneyland)

The Disneyland Hotel includes decor inspired by Disneyland park in the rooms, a pool-and-slide water play area that evokes the early years of Disneyland, and the new poolside Tangaroa Terrace restaurant and Trader Sam’s bar, inspired by classic features found in Adventureland. (Paul Hiffmeyer/Disneyland)

This new hotel will be reportedly located somewhere on 10 acres of the Downtown Disney parking lot.  One story has it being built at the north end of the lot, and another has it going up just north of the Rain Forest Café.  Either way, it will definitely take over this parking area.  Where Disney will park Downtown visitors is unknown at this time, although there may be plenty of parking at the south end of Paradise Pier.

Another point that makes this announcement puzzling is that Disney has purchased several large plots of land in the immediate area over the past several years, including the Carousel Inn on Harbor Blvd.  What Disney plans for these properties is unknown at this time, although there is speculation for another theme park and maybe even a transportation center (for more on that, read this).

We enjoy staying at Disney resort hotels when we can.  Like most other people, we have to be budget conscious, and in doing so we can plan more trips where we spend less, versus fewer trips in which we spend more.  So for our regular trips, we reserve a room at a hotel that offers us the amenities we want at lower cost.  We save the resort hotels for those special trips such as birthdays and anniversaries.

Whatever Disney does with this hotel, we’re sure it is going to be spectacular and certainly worth checking out when it’s done.

BIG Changes Coming!

Disneyland will never be completed.  It will continue to grow as long as long as there is imagination left in the world.” – Walt Disney

Under Construction - Star Wars Land at Disneyland

Under Construction – Star Wars Land at Disneyland

Who doesn’t get excited when something new is coming?  But change is hard to accept when there are decisions concerning our favorite attraction or land at a Disney park.  We fret about the worst case scenario, often deciding that we aren’t going to like the changes before they happen.

There are major changes occurring at both California and Florida parks.  Soon, both will have a “Star Wars Land,” in addition to Walt Disney World’s “Avatar Land.”

We would be remiss to not include ourselves with those saying Continue Reading →